Putin Bust to Be Built Up, Melted Down, Converted to Jewelry

We build our heroes up only to tear them down. This axiom has long since passed over into the realm of cliché, but over in Russia recently they’ve taken it to a bizarre level of literalness. This jewelry company over there is building a 36-pound bust of Soviet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin specifically for the purpose of melting it down into individual pendants, to be sold separately. This kind of building up only to tear down is, of course, much more in the spirit of homage than indictment—and, what’s more, it’s for a good cause beyond that, a children’s cancer charity. “We are only pursuing good intentions,” a spokeswoman for the jeweler said, although even she would have to concede that they can’t manipulate the intentions of paid-up customers–each of whom is free to determine what a piece of Putin signifies to oneself, and what can be done with it.